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Donation Preferences

The Donations Preferences screen can be accessed by clicking the vertical ellipses (⋮) on your Donations App and selecting Preferences.

The screen has four sections, each of which pertains to a different set of preferences. Select each title to expand the section.

Donation Items

Accounting Preferences

Receipt, Thank You Letter, and Email Preferences

Donor Summary Letter Preferences

It is recommended you set up these preferences before you use the app.

Donation Items

The Donation Items section allows you to mark your QuickBooks items as either Donation or Non-Donation Items. This affects what items are visible in the Item dropdown when you're logging a donation. The item you choose when logging a donation corresponds to how the donation will appear when it's synced to QuickBooks.

The item list shows all your QuickBooks items, which are all marked as Donation Items by default. To remove QuickBooks items from your Donation Items list, check them off and click Mark as Non Donation. This hides them from the items dropdown in the Donations App.

If you need to create a new item, click Go To Items App to open the Items App. Click here to learn how to create an item. Use the item type you normally use in QuickBooks for donations. Once you save the item, it becomes visible on this screen and is automatically marked as a Donation Item.

Accounting Preferences

The Accounting Preferences section identifies the account you use to accept donations.

If you do not select a default account, Method uses the default Undeposited Funds.

Receipt Preferences

The first part of this three-part section allows you to set up your template for a PDF receipt.

By default we have included the template NP_DonationReceipt. You can make changes to the text of the receipt statement right from here, and save your Federal Identification Number if applicable.

The receipt statement contains legal information that might change depending on your geographic area, so ensure you check with your accountant before making changes to this text.

If you wish to create your own template from scratch, you can do so using Method's Report Designer tool, but please note this is an advanced Method tool not recommended for beginners.

Thank You Letter Preferences

The thank you letter is also a PDF template meant to be printed and mailed.

By default we have included the template NP_ThankYouLetter. You can make changes to the text of the thank you letter right from here, including mail merge fields.

Email Preferences

Finally, the receipt email section lets you set up your email template for when you email receipts to donors.

This will be the only template used by the Donations App when emailing receipts to donors. You can change the text and the mail merge fields here, and you can also access and edit this template in the Send Email App.To learn how to change your name and email signature, click here. Method pulls your company information from QuickBooks, so any changes to company info must be made in QuickBooks. Your company information is updated in Method after the next sync.

If you choose to alter the template, do not change the donation receipt URL. If you alter the URL, the link will not work and your donor will be unable to get their receipt.

Donor Summary Letter Preferences

These preferences reflect the messaging on aggregate reports sent to donors who have donated multiple times in a given time period.

In addition to the report itself, a statement and sign-off are included on the letter.